Stonington — A Niantic man was charged with driving under the influence and his passenger suffered minor injuries early this morning when they crashed their Vespa scooter in Stonington Borough.

The crash occurred about 12:10 a.m. at the intersection of Water and Church streets when police say Alexander R. Aalberg, 30, of 12 Pennsylvania Ave., Niantic, lost control of the scooter.

In addition to driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, Aalberg was charged with failure to register a vehicle eligible for registration and driving in violation of his license classification.

The owner of the scooter, Kody D. Blake, 30, of 73 School St., Plainfield, was also the passenger. He was taken to the hospital for treatment of minor injuries. He was charged with failure to have minimum insurance and failure to register a vehicle eligible for registration.